Sunday, October 03, 2010

Double racing (again!)

My blog is a definite reflection of how busy I am during the week. Remember when I fractured my clavicle last year and was typing daily/hourly posts on how sore I was? Not busy! This week? No posts = very busy. I feel like I hit the ground running since I got back from Las Vegas and have had no time to slow down. Actually that statement is really true since a 5k is the first thing that I did when I got back :-)

Anyways I was so exhausted and sore by the time the weekend hit that I almost didn't go do the Crybaby Classic, which was at nub's nob. This was my first time racing at the venue, but apparently they used to have a Norba race there, long before I started riding a bike.

Scott, our friend Shawn D., and I drove up on the race day, so I didn't have time to pre-ride the course. Once we got there I immediately started hearing "war stories" from people who had raced earlier. Basically all of the reports were the same. Super fast course, no singletrack, and lots of climbing. I also got repeated warnings about a climb called the "crybaby".

We had a strong women's class, and it was a combination of roadies and mountain bikers. Now that the road season is over, a lot of people are gearing up for end of season races, like Iceman. Our start went up a grassy climb and then immediately went down into fast doubletrack. From there we hit some sand pits, a minute of singletrack, and then more false flats. My legs were definitely feeling the hill intervals I had done a few days before, but I was able to stay with the leaders until we hit the crybaby climb. It was kind of gradual at first, with a few turns, and then all of a sudden it went straight up. I totally needed to be in my granny gear, but it was too late for me to shift down. I had to ride the thing in my middle ring and it just about destroyed my legs. I popped off the back really darn fast!

I spent the rest of the race by myself. It was a bad day to have forgotten my climbing legs, because I think 99.99% of the course was uphill :-) Personally I wish the course would have had more singletrack, but it was still really pretty. And definitely hard. We mostly raced on ski trail, and I would love to go back this winter!!!

The finish line couldn't come soon enough as I was starving. For some reason my preparation for XC racing is completely opposite then what it is for endurance racing. Meaning I try to bring triple everything for long races, and pack minimally for the short stuff. As a result, I didn't bring any food! It was a huge mistake because our race started way later then I thought it would. My stomach was actually growling during the race. That's not a good sign, right?

I ended up finishing in 4th place, which was still in the prize money. Gotta love getting cash for riding a bike :-)

Once we got called up to the podium I realized I still had my camera with me. So here's my reverse podium shot....

Afterwards our podium had to film something for Ford. I was to busy talking to hear the specifics, but oh well. Basically I was so bonked out I just followed what everyone was doing.

It was pretty easy as all we had to say was, "thank you Ford."

Try #1Except that none of us were speaking in unison, and we were also tired from climbing our legs off for the last 2 hours.

Try #2

The guy in the front managed to muster up enough energy to swing his arm emphatically while "thanking Ford!"Try #3

Heather got into the arm swinging action here....Can you tell how enthusiastic we were? The poor promoter kept having to tell us to act more excited. My voice was completely monotone and I'm pretty sure that my neighbor Derek (in the Bissell jersey) was lip-syncing.

All in all, it was a really good day. We spent way to much time in the car (7 hours total), but the race was worth it! And incidentally, our 7 hours of driving were spent in a Ford.

So, "Thank Youuuuuuuu Ford!"

The next day I rolled out of bed for some Kisscross fun. I wasn't completely sure my legs would even be able to pedal, but my parents were going to race. See? Did I not say that they would get addicted?

The cross race had a little bit of everything thrown into it. It's funny, there was just as much technical stuff as the mountain bike race that I did the day before. About a minutes worth. Actually I think the cross race was more technical because we had to ride through water and mud!

My plan was to ride behind my mom in her race, but my legs were super tired. After two laps I pulled off of the course. It was time for her to graduate and race on her own. And she killed it! She was the 3rd female to finish and 24th out of 46! My Dad did awesome too. He was 20th after having chain issues. Of course, now they are complaining about how their bikes are too heavy, and how they need cross bikes :-)

Luckily my legs decided to make an appearance for my race. They were still a little tired and I completely misjudged my jumping ability over the first barriers. After falling on my face and causing a pile-up (yes, I was that person today) I managed to finish as the first female and 14th overall.